RESCUE OF THE STARVING
The sufferings of Belgium during the German occupation were terrible,
and attracted the attention and the sympathy of the whole world. To
understand conditions it is necessary to know something of the economic
situation. Since it had come under the protection of the Great Powers,
Belgium had developed into one of the greatest manufacturing countries
in the world. Nearly two million of her citizens were employed in the
great industries, and one million two hundred thousand on the farms.
She was peaceful, industrious and happy. But on account of the fact
that more than one-half of her citizenship earned their living by daily
labor she found it impossible to produce foodstuff enough for her own
needs. Seventy-eight per cent of her breadstuffs had to be imported.
From her own fields she could hardly supply her population for more
than four months.
The war, and the German occupation, almost destroyed business. Mines,
workshops, factories and mills were closed. Labor found itself without
employment and consequently without wages. The banks would extend no
credit. But even if there had been money enough it soon became apparent
that the food supply was rapidly going. The German invasion had come
when the crops were standing ripe upon the field. Those crops had not
been reaped, but had been trampled under foot by the hated German.
One feature of Belgian industrial life should be understood. Hundreds
of thousands of her workmen were employed each day in workshops at
considerable distances from their own homes. In times of peace the
morning and evening trains were always crowded with laborers going to
and returning from their daily toil. One of the first things seized
upon by the German officials was the railroads, and it was with great
difficulty that anyone, not belonging to the German army, could
obtain an opportunity to travel at all, and it was with still greater
difficulty that supplies of food of any kind could be transported from
place to place. Every village was cut off from its neighbor, every town
from the next town. People were unable even to obtain news of the great
political events which were occurring from day to day, and the food
supply was automatically cut off.
But this was not the worst. One of the first moves of the German
occupation was to quarter hundreds of thousands of troops upon their
Belgian victims, and these troops must be fed even though the Belgian
and his family were near starvation. Then followed the German seizure
of what they called materials for war. General von Beseler in a
despatch to the Kaiser, after the fall of Antwerp, speaks very plainly:
The war booty taken at Antwerp is enormous--at least five hundred
cannon and huge quantities of ammunition, sanitation materials,
high-power motor cars, locomotives, wagons, four million kilograms of
wheat, large quantities of flour, coal and flax wool, the value of
which is estimated at ten million marks, copper, silver, one armored
train, several hospital trains, and quantities of fish.
The Germans proceeded to commandeer foodstuffs and raw materials of
industry. Linseed oil, oil cakes, nitrates, animal and vegetable oils,
petroleum and mineral oils, wool, copper, rubber, ivory, cocoa, rice,
wine, beer, all were seized and sent home to the Fatherland. Moreover,
cities and provinces were burdened with formidable war contributions.
Brussels was obliged to pay ten million dollars, Antwerp ten million
dollars, the province of Brabant, ninety millions of dollars, Namur
and seventeen surrounding communes six million four hundred thousand
dollars. Finally Governor von Bissing, on the 10th of December, 1914,
issued the following decree:
A war contribution of the amount of eight million dollars to be paid
monthly for one year is imposed upon the population of Belgium. The
payment of these amounts is imposed upon the nine provinces which
are regarded as joint debtors. The two first monthly payments are to
be made by the 15th of January, 1915, at latest, and the following
monthly payments by the tenth of each following month to the military
chest of the Field Army of the General Imperial Government in
Brussels. If the provinces are obliged to resort to the issue of
stock with a view to procuring the necessary funds, the form and
terms of these shares will be determined by the Commissary General
for the banks in Belgium.
At a meeting of the Provincial Councils the vice-president declared:
“The Germans demand these $96,000,000 of the country without right
and without reason. Are we to sanction this enormous war tax? If we
listened only to our hearts, we should reply ‘No! ninety-six million
times no!’ because our hearts would tell us we were a small, honest
nation living happily by its free labor; we were a small, honest
nation having faith in treaties and believing in honor; we were a
nation unarmed, but full of confidence, when Germany suddenly hurled
two million men upon our frontiers, the most brutal army that the
world has ever seen, and said to us, ‘Betray the promise you have
given. Let my armies go by, that I may crush France, and I will give
you gold.’ Belgium replied, ‘Keep your gold. I prefer to die, rather
than live without honor.’ The German army has, therefore, crushed our
country in contempt of solemn treaties. ‘It is an injustice,’ said the
Chancellor of the German Empire. ‘The position of Germany has forced
us to commit it, but we will repair the wrong we have done to Belgium
by the passage of our armies.’ They want to repair the injustice as
follows: Belgium will pay Germany $96,000,000! Give this proposal your
vote. When Galileo had discovered the fact that the earth moved around
the sun, he was forced at the foot of the stake to abjure his error,
but he murmured, ‘Nevertheless it moves.’ Well, gentlemen, as I fear a
still greater misfortune for my country I consent to the payment of the
$96,000,000 and I cry ‘Nevertheless it moves.’ Long live our country in
spite of all.”
At the end of a year von Bissing renewed this assessment, inserting
in his decree the statement that the decree was based upon article
forty-nine of The Hague Convention, relating to the laws and usages
of war on land. This article reads as follows: “If in addition to the
taxes mentioned in the above article the occupant levies other moneyed
contributions in the occupied territory, they shall only be applied
to the needs of the army, or of the administration, of the territory
in question.” In the preceding article it says: “If in the territory
occupied the occupant collects the taxes, dues and tolls payable to the
state, he shall do so as far as possible in accordance with the legal
basis and assessment in force at the time, and shall in consequence
be bound to defray the expenses of the administration of the occupied
territories to the same extent as the National Government had been so
bound.”
The $96,000,000 per annum was more than six times the amount of the
direct taxes formerly collected by the Belgian state, taxes which the
German administration, moreover, collected in addition to the war
assessment. It was five times as great as the ordinary expenditure of
the Belgian War Department.
[Illustration: SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN AND ALSACE-LORRAINE ACQUISITIONS]
But this was not all. In addition to the more or less legitimate German
methods of plunder the whole country had been pillaged. In many towns
systematic pillage began as soon as the Germans took possession. At
Louvain the pillage began on the 27th of August, 1914, and lasted a
week. In small bands the soldiers went from house to house, ransacked
drawers and cupboards, broke open safes, and stole money, pictures,
curios, silver, linen, clothing, wines, and food. Great loads of such
plunder were packed on military baggage wagons and sent to Germany. The
same conditions were reported from town after town. In many cases the
houses were burnt to destroy the proof of extensive thefts.
Nor were these offenses committed only by the common soldiers. In many
cases the officers themselves sent home great collections of plunder.
Even the Royal Family were concerned in this disgraceful performance.
After staying for a week in a château in the Liége District, His
Imperial Highness, Prince Eitel Fritz, and the Duke of Brunswick, had
all the dresses which were found in a wardrobe sent back to Germany.
This is said to be susceptible of absolute proof.
In addition to this form of plunder special pretexts were made use of
to obtain money. At Arlon a telephone wire was broken, whereupon the
town was given four hours to pay a fine of $20,000 in gold, in default
of which one hundred houses would be sacked. When the payment was made
forty-seven houses had already been plundered. Instance after instance
could be given of similar unjustifiable and exorbitant fines.
Under treatment like this Belgium was brought in a short time into
immediate sight of starvation. They made frantic appeals for help.
First they appealed to the Germans, but the German authorities did
nothing, though in individual cases German soldiers shared their army
rations with the people. Then an appeal was made to Holland, but
Holland was a nation much like Belgium. It did not raise food enough
for itself, and was not sure that it could import enough for its own
needs.
From all over Belgium appeals were sent from the various towns and
villages to Brussels. But Brussels, too, was face to face with famine.
To cope with famine there were many relief organizations in Belgium.
Every little town had its relief committee, and in the larger cities
strong branches of the Red Cross did what they could. Besides such
secular organizations, there were many religious organizations,
generally under the direction of the Roman Catholic Church.
In Brussels a strong volunteer relief organization was formed on
September 5th under the patronage of the American and Spanish
Ministers, Mr. Brand Whitlock and the Marquis of Villalobar. This
committee, known as the Central Relief Committee, or more exactly
La Comité Central de Secours et d’Alimentation pour l’Agglomération
bruxelloise, did wonderful work until the end of the war. But though
there was plenty of organization there were great difficulties ahead.
In order to import food, credit had to be established abroad,
permission had to be obtained to transport foodstuffs into Belgium
through the British blockade. Permission to use the railroads and
canals of Belgium had to be obtained from Germany, and, most important
of all, it had to be made certain that no food thus imported should be
seized by the German troops.
Through the American and Spanish ministers permission was obtained
from Governor-General Kolmar von der Goltz to import food, and the
Governor-General also gave assurance that, “Foodstuffs of all sorts
imported by the committee to assist the civil population shall be
reserved exclusively for the nourishment of the civil population of
Belgium, and that consequently these foodstuffs shall be exempt from
requisition on the part of the military authorities, and shall rest
exclusively at the disposition of the committee.”
With this assurance the Central Relief Committee sent Emil Francqui
and Baron Lambert, members of their committee, together with Mr. Hugh
Gibson, secretary of the American Legation, whose activities in behalf
of Belgium attracted much favorable notice, to the city of London,
to explain to the British Government the suffering that existed in
Belgium, and to obtain permission to transport food through the British
blockade. In the course of this work they appealed to the American
Ambassador in England, Mr. Walter Hines Page, and were introduced by
him to an American mining engineer named Herbert Clark Hoover, who
had just become prominent as the chairman of a committee to assist
Americans who had found themselves in Europe when the war broke out,
and had been unable to secure funds.
Mr. Hoover took up the matter with great vigor, and organized an
American committee under the patronage of the ministers of the United
States and of Spain in London, Berlin, The Hague and Brussels, which
committee obtained permission from the British Government to purchase
and transport through the British blockade, to Rotterdam, Holland,
cargoes of foodstuffs, to be ultimately transferred into Belgium and
distributed by the Belgian Central Relief Committee under the direction
of American citizens headed by Mr. Brand Whitlock.
The following brief notices, in connection with this committee appeared
in the London _Times_:
October 24, 1914.--A commission has been set up in London, under the
title of The American Commission for Relief in Belgium. The Brussels
committee reports feeding 300,000 daily.
November 4.--The Commission for Relief in Belgium yesterday issued
their first weekly report, 3 London Wall Buildings. A cargo was
received yesterday at Brussels just in time. Estimated monthly
requirements, 60,000 tons grain, 15,000 tons maize, 3,000 tons rice
and peas. Approved by the Spanish and American ministers, Brussels.
The personality of the various gentlemen who devoted themselves to
Belgian relief is interesting, not only because of what they did,
but because they are unusual men. The Spanish Minister, who bore the
peculiar name of Marquis of Villalobar y O’Neill, had the appearance
of an Irishman, as he was on the maternal side, and was a trained
diplomat, with delightful manners and extraordinary strength of
character. Another important aid in the Belgian relief work was
the Mexican Chargé d’Affaires Señor don German Bullé. Hugh Gibson,
secretary of the American Legation, wittily described this gentleman as
the “representative of a country without a government to a government
without a country.” The businessman in the American Legation was this
secretary. Mr. Gibson had the appearance of a typical Yankee, though he
came from Indiana. He was about thirty years old, with dark eyes, crisp
hair, and a keen face. He was noted for his wit as well as his courage.
Many interesting stories are told of him. He had been often under fire,
and he was full of stories of his exploits told in a witty and modest
way.
The following incident shows something of his humor. Like most of the
Americans in Belgium he was followed by spies. With one of these Gibson
became on the most familiar terms, much to the spy’s disgust. One very
rainy day, when Gibson was at the Legation, he discovered his pet spy
standing under the dripping eaves of a neighboring house. Gibson picked
up a raincoat and hurried over to the man.
“Look here, old fellow,” said he, “I’m going to be in the Legation for
three hours. You put on this coat and go home. Come back in three hours
and I’ll let you watch me for the rest of the day.”
Mr. Brand Whitlock, the American Minister, was a remarkable man.
Before coming to Belgium he had become a distinguished man of letters.
Beginning as a newspaper reporter in Chicago, he had studied law and
been admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1894, and to the Bar of the State
of Ohio in 1897. He had entered into politics, and been elected mayor
of Toledo, Ohio, in 1905, again in 1907, 1909 and 1911. Meanwhile he
had been writing novels, “The Thirteenth District,” “The Turn of the
Balance,” “The Fall Guy,” and “Forty Years of It.” He had accepted
the appointment of American Minister to Belgium with the idea that he
would find leisure for other literary work, but the outbreak of the war
affected him deeply. A man of a sympathetic character who had lived
all his life in an amiable atmosphere, had been a member of prison
reform associations and charitable societies, he now found himself
surrounded by a storm of horrors. Day by day he had to see the distress
and suffering of thousands of people. He threw himself at once into the
work of relief. His health was not strong and he always looked tired
and worn. He was the scholarly type of man, the kind who would be happy
in a library, or in the atmosphere of a college, but he rose to the
emergency.
The American Legation became the one staple point around which the
starving and suffering population could rally. Belgians will never
forget what he did in those days. On Washington’s Birthday they filed
before the door of the American Legation at Number 74 Rue de Trèves,
men, women and children of all classes; some in furs, some in the
garments of the poor; noblemen, scholars, workmen, artists, shopkeepers
and peasants to leave their visiting cards, some engraved, some printed
and some written on pieces of paper, in tribute to Mr. Whitlock and the
nation which he represented.
But the man whose name stands out above all others as one of the
biggest figures in connection with the work of relief was Mr. Herbert
C. Hoover. Mr. Hoover came of Quaker stock. He was born at West Branch,
Iowa, in 1874, graduated from Leland Stanford University in 1895,
specialized in mining engineering, and spent several years in mining
in the United States and in Australia. He married Miss Lou Henry, of
Monterey, California, in 1899, and with his bride went to China as
chief engineer of the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines. He aided in the
defense of Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion. After that he continued
engineering work in China until 1902, when he became a partner of the
firm of Bewick, Moreing & Co., mine operators, of London, and was
consulting engineer for more than fifty mining companies. He looked
extremely youthful; smooth shaven, with a straight nose, and a strong
mouth and chin. To him, more than anyone else, was due the creation
and the success of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. The splendid
organization which saved from so much suffering more than seven million
non-combatants in Belgium and two million in Northern France, was his
achievement.
A good story is told in the _Outlook_ of September 8, 1915, which
illustrates his methods. It seems that before the commission was
fairly on its feet, there came a day when it was a case of snarling
things in red tape and letting Belgium starve, or getting food shipped
and letting governments howl. Hoover naturally chose the latter.
When the last bag had been stowed and the hatches were battened down
(writes Mr. Lewis R. Freeman, who tells the story), Hoover went in
person to the one Cabinet Minister able to arrange for the only things
he could not provide for himself--clearance papers.
“If I do not get four cargoes of food to Belgium by the end of the
week,” he said bluntly, “thousands are going to die from starvation,
and many more may be shot in food riots.”
“Out of the question,” said the distinguished Minister; “there is no
time, in the first place, and if there was, there are no good wagons to
be spared by the railways, no dock hands, and no steamers. Moreover,
the Channel is closed for a week to merchant vessels, while troops are
being transferred to the Continent.”
“I have managed to get all these things,” Hoover replied quietly, “and
am now through with them all, except the steamers. This wire tells me
that these are now loaded and ready to sail, and I have come to have
you arrange for their clearance.”
The great man gasped. “There have been--there are even now--men in
the Tower for less than you have done!” he ejaculated. “If it was for
anything but Belgian Relief--if it was anybody but you, young man--I
should hate to think of what might happen. As it is--er--I suppose
there is nothing to do but congratulate you on a jolly clever coup.
I’ll see about the clearance at once.”
Mr. Lloyd George tells the following story: It seems that the
Commission on Belgian Relief was attempting to simplify its work by
arranging for an extension of exchange facilities on Brussels. Mr.
Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, sent for Hoover. What
happened is told in Mr. George’s words.
“‘Mr. Hoover,’ I said, ‘I find I am quite unable to grant your request
in the matter of Belgian exchange, and I have asked you to come here
that I might explain why.’
“Without waiting for me to go on, my boyish-looking caller began
speaking. For fifteen minutes he spoke without a break--just about
the clearest expository utterance I have ever heard on any subject.
He used not a word too much, nor yet a word too few. By the time he
had finished I had come to realize, not only the importance of his
contentions, but, what was more to the point, the practicability of
granting his request. So I did the only thing possible under the
circumstance, told him I had never understood the question before,
thanked him for helping me to understand, and saw to it that things
were arranged as he wanted them.”
On April 10, 1915, a submarine torpedoed one of the food ships
chartered by the commission. A week later a German hydro-airplane tried
to drop bombs on the deck of another commission ship. So Hoover paid a
flying visit to Berlin. He was at once assured that no more incidents
of the sort would occur.
[Illustration: AN AIRPLANE CONVOY
Food ships successfully convoyed by seaplanes in clear weather when
submarines were easier to detect.]
“Thanks,” said Hoover. “Your Excellency, have you heard the story of
the man who was nipped by a bad-tempered dog? He went to the owner to
have the dog muzzled. ‘But the dog won’t bite you,’ insisted the owner.
‘You know he won’t bite me, and I know he won’t bite me,’ said the
injured party doubtfully, ‘but the question is, does the dog know?’”
“Herr Hoover,” said the high official, “pardon me if I leave you for a
moment. I am going at once to ‘let the dog know.’”
This story, which is told by Mr. Edward Eyre Hunt in his delightful
book about Belgium, “War Bread,” may be apocryphal, but it illustrates
well Hoover’s habit of getting exactly what he wants.
When Mr. Hoover accepted the chairmanship of the Commission for Relief
in Belgium he established his headquarters at 3 London Wall Buildings,
London, England, and marshaled a small legion of fellow Americans,
business men, sanitary experts, doctors and social workers, who, as
unpaid volunteers, set about the great task of feeding the people
of Belgium and Northern France. The commission soon became a great
institution, recognized by all governments, receiving contributions
from all parts of the earth, with its own ships in every big port, and
in the eyes of the Belgians and French, who received their daily bread
through its agency, a monument of what Americans could do in social
organization and business efficiency, for Americans furnished the
entire personnel of the commission from the beginning.
The commission was a distinct organization from the Belgian National
Committee, through and with which it worked in Belgium itself. Its
functions were those of direction, and supervision of all matters that
had to be dealt with outside Belgium. In the occupied territories it
had the help of thousands of Belgian and French workers, many of them
women.
The commission did not depend, according to Mr. Hoover, on any one of
its American members for leadership. Any one of them could at any
time take charge and carry on the work. “Honold, Poland, Gregory,
Brown, Kellogg, Lucey, White, Hunsiker, Connet, and many others who,
at various periods, have given of their great ability and experience
in administration could do it.” At the same time it was admitted that
the commission would never have been so successful if Belgium had not
already had in existence a well-developed communal system. The base
of the commission’s organization was a committee in every commune or
municipality.
“You can have no idea what a great blessing it was in Belgium and
Northern France to have the small and intimate divisions which exist
under the communal system,” said Mr. Hoover. “It is the whole unit
of life, and a political entity much more developed than in America.
It has been not only the basis of our relief organization, but the
salvation of the people.”
Altogether there were four thousand communal committees, linked up in
larger groups under district and provincial committees, which in turn
came under the Belgian National Committee. Contributions were received
from all over the world, but the greater part from the British and
French governments.
When Mr. Hoover began his work he appealed to the people of the
United States, but the American response to the appeal was sadly
disappointing. During his stay in America, in the early part of 1917,
Mr. Hoover expressed himself on the subject of his own country’s
niggardliness, pointing out at the same time that the chief profits
made out of providing food for Belgium had gone into American pockets.
Out of the two hundred and fifty millions of dollars spent by the
commission at that time, one hundred and fifty millions had been used
in the United States to purchase supplies and on these orders America
had made a war profit of at least thirty million dollars. Yet in those
two years the American people had contributed only nine million dollars!
Mr. Hoover declared: “Thousands of contributions have come to us from
devoted people all over the United States, but the truth is that,
with the exception of a few large gifts, American contributions have
been little rills of charity of the poor toward the poor. Everywhere
abroad America has been getting the credit for keeping alight the lamp
of humanity, but what are the facts? America’s contributions have been
pitifully inadequate and, do not forget it, other peoples have begun
to take stock of us. We have been getting all the credit. Have we
deserved it? We lay claim to idealism, to devotion to duty and to great
benevolence, but now the acid test is being applied to us. This has
a wider import than mere figures. Time and time again, when the door
to Belgium threatened to close, we have defended its portals by the
assertion that this was an American enterprise; that the sensibilities
of the American people would be wounded beyond measure, would be
outraged, if this work were interfered with. Our moral strength has
been based upon this assertion. I believe it is true, but it is
difficult in the face of the figures to carry conviction. And in the
last six or eight months time and again we have felt our influence slip
from under us.”
The statement that Germans had taken food intended for the Belgians
was disposed of by Mr. Hoover in a speech in New York City. “We are
satisfied,” he said, “that the German army has never eaten one-tenth of
one per cent of the food provided. The Allied governments never would
have supplied us with two hundred million dollars if we were supplying
the German army. If the Germans had absorbed any considerable quantity
of this food the population of Belgium would not be alive today.”
The plan of operation of the Belgian Commission needs some description.
Besides the headquarters in London there was an office in Brussels,
and, as Rotterdam was the port of entry for all Belgian supplies, a
transshipping office for commission goods was opened in that city. The
office building was at 98 Haringvliet, formerly the residence of a
Dutch merchant prince.
Captain J. F. Lucey, the first Rotterdam director, sat in a roomy
office on the second floor overlooking the Meuse. From his windows he
could see the commission barges as they left for Belgium, their huge
canvas flags bearing the inscription “Belgian Relief Committee.” He
was a nervous, big, beardless American, a volunteer who had left his
business to organize and direct a great transshipping office in an
alien land for an alien people.
Out of nothing he created a large staff of clerks, wrung from the Dutch
Government special permits, loaded the immense cargoes received from
England into canal boats, obtained passports for cargoes and crews, and
shipped the foodstuffs consigned personally to Mr. Brand Whitlock.
Something of what was done at this point may be understood from a
reference in the first annual report of the commission published
October 31, 1915:
The chartering and management of an entire fleet of vessels, together
with agency control practically throughout the world, has been
carried out for the commission quite free of the usual charges by
large transportation firms who offered these concessions in the cause
of humanity. Banks generally have given their exchange services and
have paid the full rate of interest on deposits. Insurance has been
facilitated by the British Government Insurance Commissioners, and
the firms who fixed the insurance have subscribed the equivalent of
their fees. Harbor dues and port charges have been remitted at many
points and stevedoring firms have made important concessions in rates
and have afforded other generous services. In Holland, exemption from
harbor dues and telegraph tolls has been granted and rail transport
into Belgium provided free of charge. The total value of these Dutch
concessions is estimated at 147,824 guilders. The German military
authorities in Belgium have abolished custom and canal duties on all
commission imports, have reduced railway rates one-half and on canals
and railways they give right of way to commission foodstuffs wherever
there is need.
By mid-November gift ships from the United States were on their way to
Rotterdam, but the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was first in the
transatlantic race.
One of the most thrilling experiences of the first year’s work was
the coming of the Christmas ship, a steamer full of Christmas gifts
presented by the children of America to the children of war-ridden
Belgium. The children knew all about it long before the ship arrived
in Rotterdam. St. Nicholas’ day had brought them few presents. They
were hungry for friendliness, and the thought of getting gifts from
children across the sea filled them with joy.
Many difficulties arose, which delayed the distribution of these gifts.
The Germans insisted that every package should be opened and every
scrap of writing taken out before the gifts were sent into Belgium.
This was a tremendous task, for notes written by American children were
tucked away into all sorts of places.
Three motor boats made an attempt to carry these gifts into Belgium
by Christmas day. They carried boxes of clothing, outfits for babies,
blankets, caps, bonnets, cloaks, shoes of every description, babies’
boots, candy, fish, striped candy canes, chocolates and mountains of
nuts, nuts such as the Belgians had never seen in their lives before:
pecans, hickory nuts, American walnuts, and peanuts galore. There were
scores of dolls, French bisques, smiling pleasantly, pop-eyed rag
dolls, old darky mammy dolls, and Santa Clauses, picture books, fairy
books and story books.
One child had written on the cover of her book: “Father says I ought to
send you my best picture book, but I think that this one will do.”
These gifts made the American aid to Belgium a thousand times more
intimate and real, and never after that was American help thought of
in other terms than those of burning gratitude. Among these gifts were
hundreds of American flags, which soon became familiar to all Belgium.
The commission automobiles bore the flag, and the children would
recognize the Stars and Stripes and wave and cheer as it went by.
Thousands upon thousands of gifts to the Belgian people followed
the Christmas ship. All, or a great part, of the cargoes of one
hundred and two ships consisted of gift goods from America and indeed
from all parts of the world, and the Belgians sent back a flood of
acknowledgments and thousands of beautiful souvenirs. Some of the most
touching remembrances came from the children. Every child in the town
of Tamise, for example, wrote a letter to America.
One addressed to the President of the United States reads as follows:
Highly Honored Mr. President: Although I am still very young I feel
already that feeling of thankfulness which we, as Belgians, owe to
you, Highly Honored Mr. President, because you have come to our help
in these dreary times. Without your help there would certainly have
been thousands of war victims, and so, Noble Sir, I pray that God
will bless you and all the noble American people. That is the wish of
all the Belgian folk.
On New Year’s day Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, issued his
famous pastoral:
Belgium gave her word of honor to defend her independence. She has
kept her word. The other powers had agreed to protect and to respect
Belgium’s neutrality. Germany has broken her word, England has been
faithful to it. These are the facts. I consider it an obligation
of my pastoral charge to define to you your conscientious duties
toward the power which has invaded our soil, and which for the moment
occupies the greater part of it. This power has no authority, and
therefore, in the depth of your heart, you should render it neither
esteem, nor attachment, nor respect. The only legitimate power in
Belgium is that which belongs to our King, to his government, to the
representatives of the nation; that alone is authority for us; that
alone has a right to our heart’s affection and to our submission.
Cardinal Mercier was called the bravest man in Belgium. Six feet
five in height, a thin, scholarly face, with grayish white hair,
and a forehead so white that one feels one looks on the naked bone,
he presented the appearance of some medieval ascetic. But there was
a humorous look about his mouth, and an expression of sympathy and
comprehension which gave the effect of a keenly intelligent, as well as
gentle, leader of the nation.
At the beginning of the war the Roman Catholic party was divided. Some
of its leaders were opposed to resistance to the invaders. Many priests
fled before the German armies. But the pastoral letter of Cardinal
Mercier restored to the Church its old leadership. In him conquered
Belgium had found a voice.
On New Year’s Sunday, 1915, every priest at the Mass read out the
Cardinal’s ringing challenge. There were German soldiers in the
churches, but no word of the letter had been allowed to reach the
ears of the authorities, and the Germans were taken completely by
surprise. Immediately orders came from headquarters prohibiting
further circulation of the letter, and ordering that every copy should
be surrendered to the authorities. Soldiers at the bayonet’s point
extorted the letter from the priests, and those who had read it were
put under arrest. Yet, somehow, copies of the letter were circulated
throughout Belgium, and every Belgian took new heart.
As far as the Cardinal was concerned German action was a very delicate
matter. They could not arrest and imprison so great a dignitary of the
Church for fear of the effect, not only upon the Catholics of the outer
world, but on the Catholics in their own Empire. An officer was sent
to the Cardinal to demand that the letter be recalled. The Cardinal
refused. He was then notified that it was desired that he remain in
his palace for the present. His confinement lasted only for a day.
The Americans who were in Belgium as representatives of the Relief
Commission had two duties. First, to see that the Germans did not seize
any of the food supplies, and second, to see that every Belgian who
was in need should receive his daily bread. The ration assigned to
each Belgian was 250 grams of bread per day. This seems rather small,
but the figure was established by Horace Fletcher, the American food
expert, who was one of the members of the commission.
Mr. Fletcher also prepared a pamphlet on food values, which gave
recipes for American dishes which were up to that time unknown to
the Belgians. He soon got not only the American but the Belgian
committeemen talking of calories with great familiarity.
Some of the foods sent from America were at first almost useless to the
Belgians. They did not know how to cook cornmeal and oatmeal, and some
of the famished peasants used them as feed for chickens. Teachers had
to be sent out through the villages to give instructions.
A great deal of difficulty developed in connection with the bread.
The supply of white flour was limited; wheat had to be imported, and
milled in Belgium. It was milled so as to contain all the bran except
ten per cent, but in some places ten or fifteen per cent of cornmeal
was added to the flour, not only to enable the commission to provide
the necessary ration, but also to keep down the price. As a result the
price of bread was always lower in Belgium than in London, Paris or New
York.
Much less trouble occurred in connection with the distribution of bread
and soup from the soup kitchens. In Antwerp thirty-five thousand men
were fed daily at these places. At first it often occurred that soup
could be had, but no bread. The ration of soup and bread given in the
kitchens cost about ten cents a day. There were four varieties of soup,
pea, bean, vegetable and bouillon, and it was of excellent quality.
Every person carried a card with blank spaces for the date of the
deliveries of soup. There were several milk kitchens maintained for the
children, and several restaurants where persons with money might obtain
their food.
It was necessary not only to fight starvation in Belgium but also
disease. There were epidemics of typhoid and black measles. The
Rockefeller Foundation established a station in Rotterdam called the
Rockefeller Foundation War Relief Commission, and some of the women
among its workers acted as volunteer health officers. People were
inoculated against typhoid, and the sources of infection traced and
destroyed. Another form of relief work was providing labor for the
unemployed. A plan of relief was drawn up and it was arranged that a
large portion of them should be employed by the communal organizations,
in public works, such as draining, ditching, constructing bridges and
embankments and building sewers.
The National Committee paid nine-tenths of the wages, the commune
paying the other tenth. The first enrolment of unemployed amounted to
more than 760,000 names, and nearly as many persons were dependent upon
these workers.
Providing employment for these led to certain complications. The
Germans had been able up to this time to secure a certain amount of
labor from the Belgians. Now the Belgian could refuse to work for the
German, and a great deal of tact was necessary to prevent trouble. As
time went on the relief work of the commission was extended into the
north of France, where a population of more than 2,000,000 was within
the German zone. The work was handled in the same way, with the same
guarantees from Germany.
In conclusion a word may be said of the effect of all this suffering
upon the Belgian people, and let a Belgian speak, who knew his country
well and had traveled it over, going on foot, as he says, or by tram,
from town to town, from village to village:
“I have seen and spoken with hundreds of men of all classes and all
parts of the country, and all these people, taken singly or united in
groups, display a very definite frame of mind. To describe this new
psychology we must record the incontestably closer union which has
been formed between the political sections of the country. There are
no longer any political parties, there are Belgians in Belgium, and
that is all; Belgians better acquainted with their country, feeling
for it an impulse of passionate tenderness such as a child might feel
who saw his mother suffering for the first time, and on his account.
Walloons and Flemings, Catholics and Liberals or Socialists, all are
more and more frankly united in all that concerns the national life and
decisions for the future.
“By uniting the whole nation and its army, by shedding the blood of all
our Belgians in every corner of the country, by forcing all hearts, all
families, to follow with anguish the movement of those soldiers who
fought from Liége to Namur, from Wavre to Antwerp or the Oise, the war
has suddenly imposed wider horizons upon all, has inspired all minds
with noble and ardent passions, has compelled the good will of all to
combine and act in concert in order to defend the common interests.
“Of these profoundly tried minds, of these wonderful energies now
employed for the first time, of these atrocious sufferings which have
brought all hearts into closer contact, a new Belgium is born, a
greater, more generous, more ideal Belgium.”